MILAN (Reuters) - Italy reported 22 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, compared with 24 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 6,902 from 6,599.

       Italy has registered a total of 128,209 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world.

       The country has reported 4.39 million cases to date.

       Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 2,533 on Saturday, up from 2,449 a day earlier, the health ministry said.

       There were 29 new admissions to intensive care, down from 32 on Friday. The total of intensive care patients increased to 288 from 277.

       Some 293,863 tests for COVID-19 were carried out over the past 24 hours, compared with a previous 244,657, the health ministry said.

       (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by David Holmes)